On August 8 the Mexican government announced it was dropping charges against former teachers’ union leader Elba Esther Gordillo and the sinister long-time political operator was set free after five years of various types of arrest (for a time-machine return to her sensational bust, please read our blog post from that wonderful day). The big news came on the same day that Andrés Manuel López Obrador received his official certification as President-elect from electoral authorities, provoking widespread speculation that El Peje had somehow played a role in Gordillo’s release. The López Obrador transition team responded that the timing was a mere coincidence, causing further arching of eyebrows and sidelong glances. Gordillo, for her part, announced that she will be making a political announcement on August 20, so local pundits are suggesting she may reveal some sort of collaboration with the new government. Continue reading Feds spring Elba Esther as AMLO looms→

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is a busy fella with a lot on his mind. On one hand he’s struggling to create economic growth domestically with a world economy that just can’t get off the shneid, and on the other, the state of Michoacan has been taken over by gangs of gun-toting farmers. Not good. So it’s got to come as a relief to Mr. Peña that he doesn’t have to worry about undermining opposition political parties, because that task has been embraced with zeal by the opposition parties themselves. It is a moment when they could be rallying the troops to put all their strength into blocking the president’s ambitious reform drive, or at least wringing some concessions out of the ruling PRI. But instead, they are tearing themselves limb from limb, leaving Peña to ask, à la Ed Koch, “How’m I doin’?” Continue reading Peña fiddles merry tune while opposition burns→